Traceroute, Whois, Ping and Dig

The Traceroute, Whois, Ping, and Dig tools provide valuable information for troubleshooting and diagnosing website or network issues. While there are several ways to run these commands, the method below is one of the simplest and most user-friendly options:

1. Go to mxtoolbox.com.
2. Choose the tool you need from the options.
3. Type the domain or IP address into the search field and click Enter.

Here are the tools you would typically need.

• Traceroute - The trace should have the last hop at a HostGator server.
• Whois - For Whois, you should make sure the name servers are pointed to HostGator and that they have not changed in the past 48 hours.
• Ping - A Ping test shows the IP address your domain is pointing to. This is often the same as the last IP shown in the traceroute results, but it can still be helpful to run a separate Ping test.
• Dig - Dig results appear under Answer Records and show information from your domain's DNS records. This tool provides more detailed DNS information for troubleshooting.

• How to Run Traceroute and Ping from a Desktop ⤵
• Windows ⤵
• Mac ⤵
• Linux ⤵

How to Run Traceroute and Ping from a Desktop

While a website utility like mxtoolbox.com is great for checking our servers, it will not indicate anything about your connection. To test your connection to HostGator servers, please run the tests directly from your desktop.

Alternatively, you can use the preferred method explained in the following article:

• How Can I Send a Trace Route to HostGator?

Windows

To ping a domain on a Windows-based machine:

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Run.
2. Type cmd.
3. Type the command ping or tracert, followed by the hostname, IP Address, or domain name you wish to ping. For example:

   C:>ping exampledomain.com

4. Press Enter.
5. Once the process is complete:
   1. Highlight the full text.
   2. Press Ctrl+C to copy the results.
6. Please contact us via phone or chat with the results so that HostGator can investigate any connectivity issues further.

Mac

To ping a domain on an Apple-based machine:

1. In the Spotlight search feature, locate Network Utility.
   • If you do not have the Spotlight search feature on your device, try locating the Network Utility by navigating to Applications > Utilities.
2. Select the Ping or Traceroute tab.
3. Enter the hostname, IP address, or domain name you wish to ping.
4. Click Ping or Trace.
5. Once the process is complete:
   1. Highlight the full text.
   2. Press Ctrl+C to copy the results.
6. Please contact us via phone or chat with the results so that HostGator can investigate any connectivity issues further.

Alternatively, Mac users can run traceroute and ping using the terminal tool. For further instructions, please see the following article:

• How Do I Run a Traceroute on a Mac?

Linux

To ping a domain on a Linux-based machine:

1. Access the telnet/terminal window.
2. Type the command ping or traceroute, followed by the hostname, IP Address, or domain name you wish to ping. For example:

   C:>ping exampledomain.com

3. Press Enter.
4. Once the process is complete:
   1. Highlight the full text.
   2. Press Ctrl+C to copy the results.
5. Please contact us via phone or chat to provide us with the results so that HostGator can investigate any connectivity issues further.